Aurelius, owner of the Hanse Yachts group took the majority in the capital of Privilege Marine in spring 2017. What is your feeling today about the situation?
Gilles Wagner: I think we made the right choice of buyer. All small sites reach a point where they have difficulties. Either they choose to stay on a small volume, or they want to increase their production and then they need support. With the Hanse Yachts group, we have the support of the world's 2nd largest sailboat builder and the 15th largest powerboat builder. Hanse's business model suits us. They already have 6 brands and each one keeps its DNA. No hulls are common between the ranges. The strategy is clearly identified: it is to support the Privilege Marine brand, while keeping our identity. The shipyard remains in Les Sables d'Olonne. I remain president, with a say in the matter, and I will not become a simple site manager. We are going to push the shipyard towards excellence and not towards volume, as others may have chosen to do. This is important to me. When we planted pear trees for 5 years, it was not to make apples!
The change has been seen and the return to fluidity of payment has enabled us to regain the confidence of the market and our partners. To sum up, I would say that we are once again a shipyard like any other, which thinks about its new ranges of boats and not about how to finance the next day.
How does the arrival of Hanse translate in a concrete way in the Privilege Marine shipyard?
Gilles Wagner: We're putting things on the table. The idea is to use their methods wherever they are better. But it also goes the other way. After visiting Hanse's design office in Les Sables d'Olonne, their engineers found ideas to take from us.
We have three main priorities: purchasing, industrialization and sales. We keep our purchasing departments but benefit from the support of Hanse. The objective remains to satisfy our customers, with the right products. Hanse is not a cost-killer. For production, we have carried out an audit of our processes, with the aim of organizing our work better and having an approach closer to industry. We will use their planning tools.
In order to cope with our development, we have recruitment projects, with about thirty positions to be filled, both in the design office and in production.
What about the commercial aspect?
Gilles Wagner: We continue with our historical network, but through Hanse Yachts we have more than 200 new potential distributors to strengthen it. We are currently working on the pooling of files. A new website is also planned.
In terms of sales, the arrival of Hanse has reassured customers. 3 prospects were released for Series 5 catamarans after the announcement of the takeover.
What are the plans for the Feeling brand?
Gilles Wagner: We give ourselves the time we need. Clearly, the Feeling brand is less essential to Hanse, and when it's not necessary, it must be productive! So there is no need to tinker. Some customers expect us to do this because it is a brand of affection to which they are attached.
